With the recent increase in demand for low-profile digital cameras, an imaging device is proposed that is intended to image a single subject by using multiple lenses and image sensors, and combine the obtained images into a single high-quality two-dimensional image.
An example of such a conventional imaging device shall be described with reference to FIG. 17. In the conventional imaging device shown in FIG. 17(a), a numeral 101 denotes an imaging lens formed in a single piece, for example, using a mold. The imaging lens 101 includes a R (red) wavelength lens 101a, a G (green) wavelength lens 101b, and a B (blue) wavelength lens 101c for forming an image of the subject on sensor portions 103a, 103b, and 103c that are divided into pixels of each of the three colors of a C-MOS sensor 103, which will be described later.
A numeral 102 denotes the respective aperture stops of the lenses 101a to 101c that are formed integrally. An R-wavelength transmission filter 102a, a G-wavelength transmission filter 102b, and a B-wavelength transmission filter 102c are additionally integrated with the aperture stop 102.
A numeral 103 denotes a C-MOS sensor in which an image processing circuit and so on, not shown, are integrally formed. As shown in FIG. 17(b), the sensors 103a, 103b and 103c for R, G, and B, respectively, are formed on planes that are independent from one another. Accordingly, for the same pixel size and the same number of pixels, the focal length of the lenses can be (⅓)1/2 that of a conventional Bayer array sensor, and the thickness in the optical axis direction can be reduced (see JP 3397758 B).